No sure if Larian also will be checking forums for bug reports but since this one has a workaround i'll post it here.
If you level as a result of finishing the tutorial level (you get some scripted xp i think) the loading screen will freeze at ~33%
The root cause is the tutorial popup that nudges you to click the the + sign on portrait.
the workaround is to click space / random keys while clicking wildly in the bottom left area of the screen - eventually you will get lucky and click the tutorial closing button,
